Kasabian & The Vaccines - The Horden - 24/01/2012

For the first time in a long time, we arrived early to the Horden, wanting to get in as soon as the doors opened to get a good spot and not wanting to miss a moment of The Vaccines. I was confused as to why they had all the side seating curtained off and only the back seating available, did they not sell this gig out? Was that even possible? I know the tickets were stupidly overpriced but I was sure it was sold out. Anyway we got a decent spot in the back seating knowing it was going to be a 3 hour concert.

The Vaccines came on and got cracking straight away with staples off their debut album "What Did You Expect from the Vaccines". I love these guys, they have a real old school Punk Rock sound to them, it's loud and bouncy and awesome. This can especially be seen in their track "Wreaking Bar (Ra Ra Ra)" which they opened the night with like a huge kick in the head "BAM WE'RE ON!!" Since they formed in 2010 they've been compared to the Strokes and Ramones they've stated their influences to include 70's Punk Rock and that's quite obvious.

The show was set up more like a double billed gig rather than a headliner and support act, and because The Vaccines seem to be doing so well with their latest album, their crowd wasn't much smaller than Kasabians, seems like most people decided to get their moneys worth and see both acts, wise choice!

Being that they only have the 1 album, they played every song on it, I think which was great because my favourite track "Wetsuit" was cranked out only a few songs in, and played so brilliantly. "Elenore" was another highlight and I was impressed with how well Lead Vocals Justin Young's voice was live, I was also amused by the fact that, from where I was, he looked uncanyingly like Bernard Black from the TV hilarity Black Books (watch it, it changed my life!). They finished with the stupidly catchy "Norgaard" and had the crowd wishing they had more tracks to their repertoire but alas, that was it for the night from The Vaccines.

When Kasabian came out and the lights went up, I sat for at least a full song trying to work out if lead singer Tom Meighan was gay, his feminine dancing and strutting threw me off a bit, especially because The Vaccines had just left, clothed in black grubby rock outfits and Meighan was wearing a grey shiny tight leather jacket and sun glasses. I later decided that he wasn't gay but he was however completely drugged out of his head and barely able to control his own limbs. When he did gain control he was really over doing it on the arms out stretched - head towards the sky - tell me how amazing I am - Power pose, and I tried not to form a permanent opinion of him as a bit of a Douche bag because my goodness they were belting out some amazing music.

Live, Kasabian are phenomenal, powerful and to be honest, a little too loud, well they were the other night anyway. We all walked away, blinded by the lights constantly lighting up the crowd and with ringing in our ears that lasted through to the next day. It was worth it however.

When I mentioned his obvious chemically altered state to my brother sitting next to me, I was informed that there aren't enough bands off their heads these days. Apparently that's whats needed to write amazing songs, a drug abuse problem. I was then given the example of the Chili Peppers and reminded how messed up Anthony Kedis was during the writing of One Hot Minute, he then cleaned up (sort of) and these days...well who knows what their stuff sounds like these days, case and point. That cant be it though, can it? Surely there are loads of amazing and huge bands writing genius music whilst being healthy and wholesome...right?

Anyway I digress, the crowd were absolutely loving them and whilst I'm very familiar with their latest album Velociraptor! and their previous album West Ryder Lunatic Asylum, there were still 2 or 3 "Oh yeah I know this old one!" tracks that got everyone going, like their track "Club Foot" off their 2004 debut self titled album.

Occasionally Sergio Pizzorno on guitar and backing vocals, took the mic with vocals that sounded similar to Toms but much better suited to the slower songs he was singing, Tom then came back onstage without his glasses and I instantly liked him a little more, I think the sunnies really bugged me!

Towards the end of the show my attention started waning, I had a huge headache, honestly it was just too loud and the lighting guy needed to be sacked for spending most of the gig blinding the audience. I was a little relieved when the standard "Thank you Sydney! Goodnight!" rang out and the band walked off, I even considered missing the encore for the first time in my life, but they hadn't played hit song 'Fire" yet so we decided to hang around a bit longer. Out they came, after the chorus "woahs" of "Lost Souls Forever" rang out throughout the crowd as an encore call, a few minutes and a wardrobe change later (the Douche level rose a little there) and played the missing song plus a few others. We walked out just before they finished up but could hear them finish from the Fox Studios car park where I jumped in the car and took 2 nurofen.

It was truly an amazing night, I'm glad we got seats and I think I preferred the Vaccines a little over KasabianCoachella's music festival. I walked away blind and deaf with a huge headache but my god both bands put on a freaken great show and I walked away thinking that the exorbitant $87 I paid for the ticket might have just about been worth it...almost.

Triple J's Hottest 100 - 2011

Well, that's done and dusted for 2011. Yesterday saw Triple J's hottest 100 come and go for another year and anyone surprised by the number one song 'Somebody That I Used To Know' featuring Kimbra by Gotye has been living under a sound-proof rock for the last 6 months. It's a great track so I wasn't horrendously crushed and filled with rage and disappointment like I was with last years Jet Plane by Angus and Julia Stone,
I was pretty happy with the entire countdown to be honest, sure it was a little predictable once we got down to the top 10 but it was predictable in a really good way. I was going to put the video up of the number 1 spot, but I'm not so sure we really need to see that clip again for the 429th time.
Anyway, here's the list of the full 100:

1: Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know (Featuring Kimbra)
2: The Black Keys – Lonely Boy
3: Matt Corby – Brother
4: Boy & Bear – Feeding Line
5: M83 – Midnight City
6: Lana Del Rey – Video Games
7: San Cisco – Awkward
8: 360 – Boys Like You (Ft. Gossling)
9: The Jezabels – Endless Summer
10: Hilltop Hoods – I Love It’ (Ft. Sia)
11: Calvin Harris – Feel So Close
12: Architecture In Helsinki – Contact High
13: Florence + The Machine – Shake It Out
14: Foster The People – Call It What You Want
15: Foster The People – Helena Beat
16: Grouplove – Tongue Tied
17: Seeker Lover Keeper – Even Though I’m A Woman
18: The Wombats – Jump Into The Fog
19: Nero – Promises
20: Bluejuice – Act Yr Age
21: Skrillex – Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites
22: Snakadaktal – Air
23: Emma Louise – Jungle
24: The Wombats – 1996
25: Kimbra – Cameo Lover
26: The Wombats – Techno Fan
27: Example – Changed The Way You Kiss Me
28: Owl Eyes – Pumped Up Kicks (Like A Version)
29: Drapht – Sing It (The Life Of Riley)
30: Calvin Harris – Bounce (Ft. Kelis)
31: Ball Park Music – It’s Nice To Be Alive
32: Noah And The Whale – L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N
33: Jay-Z & Kanye West – Otis (Ft. Otis Redding)
34: Gotye – I Feel Better
35: Illy – Cigarettes
36: Florence + The Machine – No Light, No Light
37: 360 – Killer
38: Ball Park Music – All I Want Is You
39: Benny Benassi – Cinema (Skrillex Remix)
40: Foster The People – Houdini
41: The Strokes – Under Cover Of Darkness
42: Florence + The Machine – What The Water Gave Me
43: Grouplove – Itchin’ On A Photograph
44: Hermitude – Speak Of The Devil
45: The Kooks – Junk Of The Heart (Happy)
46: Active Child – Hanging On
47: Sparkadia – Mary
48: Art Vs Science – A.I.M. Fire!
49: Boy & Bear – Milk & Sticks
50: Boy & Bear – Part Time Believer
51: The Drums – Money
52: Kimbra – Good Intent
53: Bon Iver – Holocene
54: The Grates – Turn Me On
55: Architecture In Helsinki – Escapee
56: Sparkadia – China
57: The Rubens – Lay It Down
58: Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers
59: Washington – Holy Moses
60: Joe Goddard – Gabriel
61: Radiohead – Lotus Flower
62: Stonefield – Black Water Rising
63: Foo Fighters – Rope
64: Owl Eyes – Raiders
65: Kasabian – Re-Wired
66: Bon Iver – Perth
67: New Navy – Zimbabwe
68: Arctic Monkeys – Don’t Sit Down Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair
69: Bon Iver – Calgary
70: Jebediah – She’s Like A Comet
71: Luke Million – Arnold
72: Flight Facilities – Foreign Language
73: Skrillex – First Of The Year (Equinox)
74: Drapht – Bali Party (Ft. Nfa)
75: Skream & Example – Shot Yourself In The Foot Again
76: Redcoats – Dreamshaker
77: Metronomy – The Look
78: Husky – History’s Door
79: SBTRKT – Wildfire {Ft. Little Dragon}
80: Pnau – The Truth
81: Busby Marou – Biding My Time
82: Little Dragon – Ritual Union
83: The Kills – Future Starts Slow
84: 360 – Throw It Away (Ft. Josh Pyke)
85: Cosmo Jarvis – Gay Pirates
86: Seeker Lover Keeper – Light All My Lights
87: Gotye – In Your Light
88: Bombay Bicycle Club – Shuffle
89: Beirut – Santa Fe
90: Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise
91: City and Colour – Fragile Bird
92: James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream
93: Kimbra – Two Way Street
94: The Wombats – Our Perfect Disease
95: Grouplove – Naked Kids
96: The Strokes – Machu Picchu
97: Foo Fighters – Arlandria
98: Jay-Z & Kanye West – Niggas in Paris
99: The Beards – You Should Consider Having Sex With A Bearded Man (triple j recording)
100: Mr Little Jeans – The Suburbs

Fleet Foxes - The Opera House 3/1/2012

First day back at work was a long one especially because I knew I was heading into the city to see Fleet Foxes that night yet we almost missed them. Dinner nearby and drinks at the Opera Bar watching the sun set behind the harbour was a great way to start the night off and as it hit 8pm I figured we should probably head up. I wasn't sure of the the support act but we had good seats so we went to check it out. There was no support act, as we arrived at our entry door I could hear Fleet Foxes, turned out we only missed 1 song luckily enough.

Right from the get go they were amazing with their lofty harmonies and heart breaking lullabies, these guys really don't need any other instruments apart from their beautiful folk voices. They are also stupidly polite and quite hilarious guys, I remember when I saw them play the Metro a few years ago I was in tears laughing when lead singer Robin Pecknold got awkwardly self conscious when someone in the audience laughed at something, sure it doesn't sound funny, but it was. This time was no different, cracking jokes about New Years Resolutions they will try hard to keep this time, like going to gym less and smoking more.

They played tracks off their first full length album Fleet Foxes like favourites White Winter Hymnal and He Doesn't Know Why as well as many off their latest offering Helplessness Blues like the fantastic Battery Kinzie or my highlight Montezuma which gave me goosebumps and sounded like a blazing folk-hymn which swelled in crescendos as the harmonious voices filled every nook and cranny of that glorious old theater. I'm not an overly religious person but I'm pretty sure that's what Heaven sounds like!

This isn't the official video but it's more exciting than looking at the album cover for 3 minutes.


I found it strange, I couldn't see anyone nodding to the music, but people were obviously enjoying with with thunderous applause's between songs. I used to think Mumford and Sons reminded me a little of Fleet Foxes but after seeing them again I've decided that whilst sometimes, yes they do sound similar, I find Mumford and Sons like to focus a little to much on the morbid and heart break whilst Fleet Foxes are more often than not uplifting and ponderous about whats greater than oneself in the universe. They always leave me feeling happy and optimistic which I love.

We had such great seats too, second row back on the Mezzanine level and I had 2 tiny people in front! I rarely get to see all band member at once at gigs. As I mentioned earlier, we thought there would be a support band but luckily got in early anyway. Not so lucky were the 4 people in the row in front of us who turned up with confused faces an hour into the 2 hour show missing loads of great tracks. Note to self for next time, the Opera House, hates a support act.

All in all it was a simply magical show, well worth the hefty ticket price and again I'm left feeling inspired by these guys and wanting to know when they'll be back.

I love this clip - He Doesn't Know Why.

2011 Review

Well I tried to get this done in the last few days of 2011, but as usual I'm a little late, but I thought I'd post a review on my reflections on the music in the year that was. It was a pretty good year for music, in my opinion. Sure Gotye and Kimbra were friggen everywhere and inescapable for a few months but apart from that there were a few that stood out to me. I've had a think about it and have decided to share my list of bests and worsts of 2011:

1) Best gig of 2011:
This was a hard one, especially because I mostly frequented festivals this year rather than individual gigs. I should title it, favourite live performance. In that case, I easily choose Darwin Deez hilariously entertaining performance spectacular seen at 2011's Groovin the Moo. It involved fantastic music, side splitting stand up comedy and some of the most outrageously daggy choreography I've ever seen. Amazing live! Cant wait to see them again!
This YouTube footage is taken from Parklife, I attached the Groovin the Moo footage to the Festival Review last year but the audio sucked, this is loads better.



2) Favourite Album of 2011:
This one was easy for me, after 2 listens though I completely fell in love with Josh Pyke's 2011 release Only Sparrows. It was a little more upbeat than his previous album Chimney's Afire and his alluring collaboration with Little Birdy's Katy Steel to create Punch in the Heart. It's an emotive, romantic, and hauntingly beautiful collection of songs by one of my favourite Aussie artists.

4) Favourite song of 2011:
Ummmm...hmmm eeny meeny miney moe. I really loved Hiccups by Jinja Safari and Zimbabwe by New Navy. Oh and I was obsessed with Ball Park Music's All I Wanted Was You. But I guess if I think about the song I played most often it was probably Friendly Fires Hawaiian Air, makes me think of holidays, yep, love that song, but this clip does show the flight from hell! Skip the Ad.



5) Most annoying song of 2011:
It doesn't appear as though The Black Eyed Peas released any music this year so that meant I couldn't decide between Rebecca Black's Friday and Luke Million's Arnold. Argh just thinking about them now, I'm getting annoyed!! I must move on!

6) Favourite "must sing loudly no matter what" song of 2011:
Again I don't seem to be very good at just picking one for each of these categories, but as it's my blog, I'm changing the rules!! So 2 songs make this list, Gotye's Better and Matt Corby's Brother. These songs have both become dangerously close to falling into the next category but for now, I'm happy to belt them out at the top of my lungs not caring who hears because I'm quite certain I'm adding to the quality of these tracks!



7) Song I used to really like until it was completely flogged to within an inch of its life:
Sorry Kimbra and Gotye, sure you won a million Aria's but now you're just some people that I used to know! Sure I paid iTunes and put it on my iPhone but that was before I realised I was going to be bombarded by the music video and song wherever I went. On one specific day I saw the clip and heard the song 3 times...and I wasn't even sitting by the radio all day, every time I jumped in the car it was there! It was a great track but I wont lie, I'm glad Triple J has decided to add a few new songs to their rotation.

Anyway that's my little look at the year that was. I had intended to make it a short concise list of bits and pieces but as you know, if you know me, being clear and concise is not something I'm known for.
Let me know your Best and Worst of 2011...or don't...whatevs.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Triple J Music Video of the Year - Hermitude - Speak of the Devil

Winner of this years Triple J 2011 Video of the Year is Hermitude with Speak of the Devil. Before I was even aware how cool the video is, I fell in love with this track. The lyrics are so true "That little Angel/Devil on your shoulder, is telling you to dance, go on, you know that you wanna, dance dance dance dance" and you can't but dance!....well I can't anyway!
So very catchy and obviously an amazing video! Ignore the add at the beginning, not much I can do about that sorry.
Enjoy!

Loving this track - Awkward by San Cisco

I think this is one of the cutest songs out there at the moment. It's so catchy and endearing, I love the contrast between male lead singer Jordi's melodic rocky voice and drummer and vocals Scarlett's punchy to the point, almost spoken word style singing. These guys are from Perth and appear to be up and coming, featuring on a few festival bills over the summer. Here is a bit more info about these guys.
http://www.triplejunearthed.com/SanCisco
It's a shame there is no clip on you tube yet but enjoy the song.

Parklife - Moore Park - 2/10/11

Checking the weather all week, I cant say I was surprised to wake up to pouring rain, but I certainly wasn't happy about it! Poncho, umbrella, beanie, scarf and gloves packed and 6 warm layers of clothing later I was ready. I'm not sure why I was outraged to see that so many people forgot to get dressed, but come on people, it was 12 degrees, raining with 50km/hour winds, well that's what the forecast said and it was spot on! The sinking feeling got worse as we pulled up outside Moore Park and had to watch some dude throwing up beside the road on his way in to the festival, not a good start.

Anyway enough about the weather.

After passing through the gates and taking in the beautiful festival grounds of Moore Park we headed over to the stage we could hear Kimbra playing. We caught a few of her tracks including her latest catchy single Good Intent. She didn't really grab me but I thought she was pretty good, I was still taking it all in at this stage of the day.

Sebastian was up next, never really heard much of his stuff before and I found him a little douchey constantly wanting praise from the crowd and never cracking a smile but everyone seemed to like him. I've never seen someone chain smoke like that before, he lit each new cigarette with the end of the last one and continued that way for his entire set. His projector show was very trippy with what looked like a rubber face version of him speaking every now and then. I found his music really easy to dance to and it was a good start to the day. However this was also the set I stumbled upon a girl who was basically wearing skin tight denim underwear, I guess she would have called "shorts" and anyone who is a facebook friend of mine got to experience that along side me on the day. I believe I posted it with the caption "I just threw up in my mouth a little bit!"

I was really looking forward to Death From Above 1979 but I had no idea of what to expect live from this 2 piece who reformed this year (who knows for how long though). I love it when a bands drummer is also the main singer, seems to me like that would take a huge amount of coordination. Grainger on drums was a little distracting with his blond undercut, it was very Aaron Carter, but apart from the random hair I was really impressed with his musicality and skills. Unfortunately it started raining during this set and out came the ponchos. With the wind blowing, the crowd appeared to be a billowing, brightly colored, loudly rustling, plastic bag. Black History Month is definitely my favourite track by these guys and they played it so well, I was stoked it was on there set list.

Example was ok, he played all his popular tracks off the current album including Changed The Way You Kiss Me. We managed to pick a really terrible spot for Example and we moved a few times to find a better one, by the time we did, the set was almost over. It felt like there was a few people doing the same as us because everyone seemed so distracted, however I got the distinct feeling like everyone's drugs kicked in at the same time and people started running around and bumping into each other like lemmings on smack.

Santigold brought the sun out with her. I really enjoyed Santigolds show, she had an amazing LED screen show going on behind her which I thought was so much fun to watch and really added to the theatrical spectacular that was her show. Highlight of her set for me was her song Hold The Line which she originally recorded with Major Lazer. She was really dynamic to watch with her massive glasses and loads of energy, I really didn't expect much, maybe that's why I was so impressed. I actually think she was the highlight of the day for me.

By this stage of the day it became painfully evident that I was one of VERY few people not off my face on drugs or completely boozed out. Its not that I felt old, I was mainly just irritated by freaks losing their Forshiz left right and center and struggling to remain vertical. At one point a group of drunk bitches stumbled over and one said to the other "I dont think I should drink anymore, I'm really drunk!". We laughed and one of them staggered over got in my brothers face and said "Are you judging us?" and whilst I felt like saying, "yes we are you drunk whore, now get out of our faces!" my brother more diplomatically said something along the lines of "take a step back, then run along" by this stage she turned around, realised her friends had wanderd off, stood there awkwardly for a second then stormed off...moron. As for the music, we were currently watching Digitalism, they were fantastic, really energetic. Everyone was definietely enjoying the music and my favourite was easily their current single Circles. I was a little irritated by the guy in front of me who kept freaking out, pulling his hair out and making the shape of a heart in his hands above his head, mimicking the heart shapes being displayed on Digitalism's screen behind the band. But he wasn't as bad as the girl who appeared next to a mate in the drinks line and told him that she could feel every hair on her head. When he inquired as to whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, she replied "Oh my god, it feels amazing!!!!"... Yep, you enjoy those dying brain cells!

Unfortunately Nero was my biggest dissapointment for the day. I know Dubstep isnt always the easiest style to listen to but I really do like most of the tracks on their latest album Welcome Reality. I also knew that half the band (Joe) was back in London putting the finishing touches on their live stage show that they will be touring with in the next few months so I expected a DJ set. What I didnt expect was for organisers to put Nero on the smallest stage there which had the grounds sloping down away from the stage. It was way to packed and the sound was really bad. Of the half a donzen songs I stayed for only 1 or 2 were from their latest album. Knowing Gossip were just down the field most likely putting on a great show was too much for me to handle and I made the best decision of the day (other than my decision to wear warm clothes) and headed over to see the last 4 songs of Gossip.

Let me do you all a favour: Do not google image search "Gossip Beth Ditto" if you have a weak stomach, she's rather vuglger and rarely fully dressed it seems. As it is, she did burp into the mic during her show at Parklife but this is apparently very tame compared to what she usually gets up to. I'm really glad I did head over mid Nero set, I really enjoyed them. For a big girl she certainly has no issue getting herself around a stage, she was so energetic and her voice is as big live as it is on her records.

20 mins late Lykke Li emerged... with no pants, it seems she got the 'no pants memo' I apparently missed. With too much smoke from the smoke machine, I spent most of set assuming where she was. She had a fantastic light show going on which was great to watch. But with Duck Sauce cranking on the stage next door, I had the urge to dance and Lykke Li was making me feel the fatigue of a huge day out, she was just a little too slow and chilled out for the closing time slot she had. I danced to Duck Sauce in the quiet breaks between Li's songs. I feel like the only reason I didn't enjoy seeing her more was because how tired I was and how chilled out her set was.

This blog post was a struggle to complete, it felt more like homework and I don't really care that the writing in it is pretty average. I guess that's because I'm not a big fan of writing about music I'm not really into, it's a waste of time I think. And the fact that I didn't really enjoy this years Parklife overly, meant it was hard to get motivated to write this. I really did try to enjoy myself, but I struggled to do so more often than not over the day.

I'm just not sure when Music festivals stopped being about music and became more about how messed up you could get and how little clothing you could possibly wear. And when did we start paying $6 for a bottle of water and $11 for a tiny cup of mid strength of vodka and lemonade? No wonder everyone was on drugs, no one could afford to drink! Maybe that makes me sound old and boring but I don't give a rats.
Overall the festival was really well put together, but the patrons ruined it and the shitty weather topped it off! Don't think I'll bother next year, not my type of crowd. Grumble grumble blah whatever....

So I think I'll take a break from Festivals for the summer and get myself ready for the big dog next year, Southern California's Coachella Festival. With a bit of luck, the weather will be better, the line up will be more to my taste, and the crowd will be a little better equipped to remain vertical for the better part of the entire day.